A Flower for Christmas
by The Secret Santa Project
Summary: FOR SAFA'AT KERUTH: Christmas is a lonely time of year in the Spirit Realm.  Two kindred souls learn to forget the scars of the past and enjoy Christmas as it should be – with family.


TITLE: A Flower for Christmas

WHO THIS IS FOR: Safa'at Keruth

RATING: K+

CHARACTERS/PAIRING: Noa Kaiba/Chris (Dartz's daughter)

WARNINGS: None

WORD COUNT: 1173

SUMMARY: Christmas is a lonely time of year in the Spirit Realm. Two kindred souls learn to forget the scars of the past and enjoy Christmas as it should be – with family

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm not quite certain what the Spirit Realm is really like, so I took some artistic liberties here. Hope you enjoy! Merry Christmas to all! Happy Holidays to those who do not celebrate Christmas for one reason or another!

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Chris was adapting well to the Spirit Realm. After being reunited with her father and mother, they, her grandfather, Skye and her had formed one big happy family. The scars of the past still ached, but for the time being, they were simply happy to be together.

Noa, on the other hand, was completely alone. His father still hadn't accepted being dead, and so, Noa wandered the Spirit Realm, looking for someone who would understand what he was going through. His scars were just starting to heal over, but he knew he would never forget the look on Mokuba's face as he managed to get everyone out of the Virtual Realm… except himself. Mokuba had accepted him as a brother, and he missed the boy dearly.

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"Father? I think it's almost Christmas. I know we're not… alive anymore, but I would like to celebrate. What do you think?" Chris asked. Dartz looked down at her and sighed.

"Chris, not now. I don't think I can celebrate right now," he said, darkness clouding his face. Chris' lower lip quivered as she tried to put on a face that had, back in the days of Atlantis, always managed to get Dartz to do what she wanted.

"Please?"

"No, Chris. And that is final," and with that, Dartz turned and walked away, probably to find Iona. Chris blinked twice, and turned on her heels, running in the opposite direction.

Skye found her, curled into a ball. When she felt her face get licked, Chris sat up and hugged the wolf tightly.

"Oh, Skye… Father won't celebrate Christmas with me… I really want to, though. I want to pretend that everything's okay and we aren't all dead, but…" here, she sniffed loudly, "he just won't!"

Skye simply nosed her shoulder in an attempt to comfort the child. It was then that she heard footsteps.

"Go away!" she cried. Peeking above Skye's body, she noticed a young boy a few years older than her with bright green hair staring at her, or rather, Skye.

"I said, go away!" she snapped. The boy jumped and glanced over Skye to see her head poking out.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you. I'm Noa. Noa Kaiba," he said, not moving. Chris narrowed her eyes and stood up. Skye shifted so that he was still in front of Chris and growled.

"I don't feel like talking. Go away!"

"I heard you the first time. Calm down! I just… didn't expect to find someone else around here," Noa said, shifting his weight. Chris relaxed slightly, but Skye still kept his guard up.

"Did you know it's almost Christmas?" Noa continued. Chris blinked, and felt tears run down her cheeks.

"Yes, I know that. I want to celebrate Christmas, even though I'm dead, but my Father doesn't want to!" she exclaimed. Noa frowned.

"At least you have a father to celebrate with. My father won't accept that he's dead. I haven't seen him since… just before we both died," he said. Chris tilted her head.

"Really? That's horrible! At least my whole family is together. Father and Mother and Grandfather and Skye… and you have no one…"

"That's okay. When I get upset, I just remember all of the best Christmases I've had in the past. Like my first Christmas after being uploaded onto the computer…"

Chris was about to ask, then decided it wasn't worth it. Noa smiled, and continued.

"My father came and showed me the gifts he had gotten from his friends and the rest of the family. Then he uploaded a video for me to watch as my gift," he said, chuckling. Chris nodded.

"And I told him that my gift to him was that I managed to chase off a computer virus that would have destroyed his computer. He was so proud of me…"

"That sounds like a great Christmas," Chris said, sighing. Noa grinned and took a step closer to her. Skye growled, but Chris put her hand on his haunch, and he relaxed, lying down. Chris stepped around the faithful wolf spirit and walked over to Noa.

"I still remember one Christmas that I spent with Grandfather Ironheart when we were spirits in the Living Realm. We didn't get each other gifts, but we were together. Him and me and Skye. I found a flower and stuck it in my hair, and we spent the day talking about Atlantis and what we remembered from before the Orichalcos arrived," she explained. Noa almost asked about Atlantis, but remembered that she had kept silent when he had mentioned being uploaded. Instead, he smiled.

"See. Remembering good Christmases is just as good as celebrating Christmas the normal way!" he said. Chris nodded.

"I guess it is. My name is Chris, by the way,"

"Nice to meet you, Chris!"

"Nice to meet you, too, Noa!"

All scars of the past forgotten, the two talked for what seemed like hours (time in the Spirit Realm flowed differently than that of the Living Realm), and were soon friends.

"I have an idea," Noa said, his eyes flashing. Chris tilted her head.

"What?" she asked. Noa leaned in close and whispered his idea in her ear. When he was finished, Chris grinned.

"Let's do it!"

Noa and Chris wandered the Spirit Realm until they found Dartz, Iona and Ironheart.

"Chris! I was worried about you! Where did you run off to?" Iona asked, running to hug Chris. Chris hugged her mother back, and smiled.

"This is Noa," she said, gesturing to him, "we met just now,"

"Chris told me you didn't want to celebrate Christmas, sir," Noa said, looking at Dartz. Dartz shifted uncomfortably and Iona glanced at him. Ironheart chuckled.

"What's wrong with Christmas, Dartz?" he asked. Dartz shook his head and sighed.

"It's too soon," he said, simply. Ironheart narrowed his eyes.

"It's never too soon for Christmas!" he announced. Iona smiled, and Chris' eyes brightened.

"That's what I thought! Merry Christmas, Father," she said, holding out a flower she had found while walking with Noa. Then, almost as an afterthought, she turned to Iona and Ironheart.

"Merry Christmas Mother, Grandfather!" she exclaimed, holding out two more flowers. Iona and Ironheart both took a flower and stuck it behind their ears (Ironheart remembered that one Christmas long ago), but Dartz hesitated.

"Come on, Father! Take it! Christmas is for being happy," Chris begged. Skye growled his agreement, a flower wrapped around his ear. Finally, Dartz reached out and took the flower.

"Merry Christmas, everyone!" Ironheart said, smiling. Iona laughed and said the same thing, and with a bit of prodding, Dartz whispered it.

Noa smiled, holding his flower. In the middle of dancing around with Ironheart, Chris caught his eye and smiled.

From then on, Noa was adopted into the family, and every Christmas, Chris would find flowers for everyone. In time, all scars of the past were forgotten, although Noa still took the time to think about Mokuba. He would always miss his brother, but now, he had a sister.

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Merry Christmas, Safa'at keruth! Love Mirabelle456 ^,^


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